A Celebration of Science at MGH

For 200 years, MGH has been expanding the field of biomedical research. This special issue celebrates the latest discoveries, insights and leaps of faith.

The Brain
Seeing is understanding as researchers study and compare ever more detailed images, some taken at the verge of consciousness, to solve mysteries of the mind and seek cures for its worst disorders.

Infectious Diseases
Though a vaccine forAIDS may soon be within reach, cholera, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and other pathogens remain scourges—and the focus of intensive research.

Genetics
Linking genes to diseases and devising therapies to treat them has preoccupied medicine for years. Now, crunching ever more data, science may finally realize the potential of that approach.

Cancer
The best surgery, radiation and drugs often can’t stop the growth of malignant cells or prevent fatal metastases. But new therapies, targeting molecular abnormalities, are showing remarkable results.

The Engineered Body
When the human machine breaks down, fixes may be ingeniously mechanical, using invented materials to create wear-free joints, and microelectrodes to translate thought into action.

Molecular Biology
It’s the most basic of science, modeling how microscopic bits of life—enzymes, proteins, stem cells—operate, com-municate and malfunction. The latest work underlies many of medicine’s advances.

foreword

Forward Looking
More than just a hospital, MGH is one of America’s leaders in biomedical research, as Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana explain.
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video

Ideas to Innovation
From AIDS to cancer, MGH clinicians and researchers are trying to solve some of the biggest questions in medical science.
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lab notes

The Legacy ofWard 4MGH’s clinical research center created the model for the NIH to open similar facilities across the country.
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